.0 O^ 'o , » 










jl\ ^rf*" ' ♦ • • «' 







1^ . t • < 



'•^^^^ 
















a'^ 





^<!^ "^ A* .. '^ •"' ♦ ^ 

















''bV^ 



^^0^ 



a5^^ 







•^vn<^^' 









& 



* %^>«» 'wJ 



DELIVERED AT 



MONTPELIER, OCTOBER 15, 1S38, 



BEFORE THE 



Tttrmout ^olont|a(tion SotiCtjj* 



BY SILAS M'KEEN, 

Pastor of the Coii'rregational Church in Bradford. 



atONTPELIER, 

PRINTED BY E. P. WJVLTON — WATCHMAN OFFICE. 
4828. 






1 3' 3 ^ (o 
*o4 



SERx^IOiV. 



Jeremiah xxxiv : 17. 



Therefore thus saith the Lord ; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in prO' 
claiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neigh' 
hour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the 
sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine ; and I will make you to 
he removed into all the kingdoms of the earih. 

I^LAVERY is not of recent origin. It has been the crime, and the 
curse, of many generations. Its iron hand, probably, was first laid 
on men subdued in war. The conqueror, sated with blood, instead 
of exterminating his prisoners, led them in triumph; subjected them 
to bondage ; and made them subservient to his own emolument and 
pleasure. Others, seeing the facility with which those who hadsla-ves 
supported themselves, would covet their ease and luxury ; and readily 
engage in war, with a view to acquire slaves; or form piratical bands, 
as the African slave-traders now do, to seize on the unsuspecting and 
defenceless, even in time of peace. In some nations too, insolvent 
debtors were compelled by the laws to perform the part of slaves to 
their creditors, until their demands were fully satisfied. It v.as so 
among the Hebrews. 

As the abject state of slaves exposed them to great indignity, we 
find in the judicial statutesof Moses, several very humane enactments 
with respect to the treatment of those who were in bondage. These 
laws were peculiarly favourable to such poor Hebrews as had been 
reduced to scrvitode, for the payment of their debts. They were 
not to be retained in bondage at the longest more than six years. 
And, during their servitude, must be furnished with a comfortable 
•Bubsistence ; be permitted to marry; be exempted Irom labour, or 



the Sabbath, and all festival occasions; and be allowed to share with 
their masters in the benefit of all religious institutions, if a master 
injured a servant in the eye, or tooth, that is, according to the spirit 
of the law, in any of his members, that servant in consequence of such 
treatment was immediately set at liberty. And if in any case the 
master slew a servant, while correcting him, he was liable to be pun- 
ished himself, according to the will and sentence of the judjje. 

These statutes furnish no argument in favour of slavery, as it ex- 
ists at the present day. They did not authorize persons to make, or 
to hold slaves, in any way inconsistent with the principle of doing to 
others as they would have others do to them ; fur this, so far as the 
duty of man to man was concerned, was the very essence of all the 
requisitions of the law and teaching of the prophets. But the design 
of them was, to extend a shield over all who had, by any means, been 
reduced to bondage ; and kindly save them, from the oppression and 
cruelty of unfeeling masters. Hence those laws were opposed by the 
pride, avarice, and eensuahty of slave-holders ; and in course of time 
were in a great measure disregarded. Many of the poor Israelites 
were retained in bondage contrary both to law and justice; and by 
reason of oppression the land was filled with their groaning. 

For this oi)pres£ion, and other grievous offences, the Lord of hosts 
brought up an array of the Chaldeans, in the time of the prophet Jer- 
emiah, to invade and chastise the people of Israel. King Zedekiah 
and his princes, perceiving the danger of being led into captivity 
themselves, were bi'ought to serious reflection on their own oppres- 
sive conduct tov/ards their enslaved fellow citizens. And knowing 
that in time of war, but little dependance could be placed on those 
who were thus oppressed and abused, they recommended to the peo- 
ple that a general emancipation of all their Hebrew slaves, should be 
immediately declared. The people agreed ; and the thing was done. 
Just at this crisis, the armies of Egypt, in alhance with the Israelites, 
came to their assistance ; and the Chaldeans hastily withdrew. 

The powerful men among the Hebrews, now supposing theqiselves 
out of danger, regretted that they had been so hasty in the emanci- 
pation of their slaves ; and contrary to their own pubhck act of giv- 
ing them their freedom; contrary to every rule of justice; to every 
dictate of humanity ; constrained them all, both male and female, to 
return to a state of servitude. This provoked the Almighty's dis- 
pleasure; and in a message to the people, by his prophet Jeremiaji* 



he said ; " Ye were now tunied, and had done right in my sight in 
])roclaiuiing liberty every man to his neighbour ; and ye had made 
a cuvenunl bcJore ine, in tiic house which is cuUud by my name. But 
ye have turned, and polluted my name; and caused every man his 
sei'vant, and every Uiun his handmaid, whom lie had set at liberty, at 
their pleasure, to return; and brought them into aubjection, to be un- 
to you for servants, and for handmaids. Tlierefore thus saith the 
Lord, Ye liave not hearkened unto me, in proclauning liberty, every 
one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour : behold I pro- 
claim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence 
and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the 
kingdoms of the earth." 

They had thought the hour of peril was past ; that they might 
now return with safety to their former ways of oppression and luxu- 
ry ; but great indeed was their mistake. Wicked nations, like wick- 
ed individuals, arc never secure. Their population, wealth, pride 
and power, are no sufncient defence. Jehovah himself is the kingo,t 
all tiie earth, and he can, without an eflbrt, crush the haughty mor- 
tal or kingdom, which refuses Bubmiosion to his authority. While 
this ungrateful people were rejoicing that their enemies were fled, 
and were returning with eagerness to their former ways of iniquity ; 
then it was that tliis fearful message was sent unto them ; and was 
concluded with the terrible declaration — " Behold I will comm; .d, 
saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city ; and they shaU 
fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire ; and I will make 
the cities of Judah a desolation, without an inhabitant." 

As they would not give hberty to their brethren who were unjust- 
ly held in bondage, the Lord would give liberty to their enemies to 
return upon them with the sword ; to the famine and the pestilence 
he would give liberty to pervade the land, and spread fear, and mise- 
ry, and death, among those whom the sword had spared. And the 
miserable remnant who should escape destruction by these, should 
still be constrained to cast themselves on the mercy of their victors; 
and be carried away to Babylon, to wear the chains of slavery there, 
and to cringe under the lash of proud and insolent masters. Let us 
for the present leave them there, toiling and sighing with their harps 
hung on the willows, to consider what instruction the history of their 
. guilt and ruin can afford to our own nation. The number of slaves 
in ancient Israel were few. compared vvilh the vast muUidude who 



ere groaning under the yoke of bondage, in this boasted land of freft- 
dom. 

The original emigrants to these United States, like the Israelites 
who emigrated to Canaan, had been oppressed by the government 
under which they had formerly lived ; and removed to a foreign land 
to gain the more perfect enjoyment of their liberty. They secured 
their object ; and for many years manifested no disposition to oppress 
others. For fifty-five years the first settlers of Virginia cultivated 
their own lands, without the assistance of slaves. And when they 
were introduced, it was not by the settlers themselves, but by their 
powerful patrons in England. And so it seems to have been with 
the other southern colonies. This was done in imitation of the Por- 
tuguese ; and the Spaniards, who had long been in the practice of 
carrying off slaves from the coast of Guinea, to strengthen their col- 
onics in the West Indies. The English colonists considered the in- 
troduction of slaves, a sore evil ; and warmly remonstrated against it. 

So early as 1 699, the southern provinces had become so much 
alarmed at the number of negroes landed on Uieir shores by the Brit- 
ish merchants, as to make it a subject of serious legislative discus- 
sion ; and from that time, down to the declaration of Independence, 
These provinces made various attempts to free themselves from the 
guilt and danger in which the mother country was involving them. 
But the royal negative invariably overruled every effort of the colo- 
nists ; and the African company, which had been formed m Great 
Britain, for the purpose of trading in slaves, was openly invited and 
encouraged to prosecute the business to the greatest possible extent. 

In 1772 the Colonial Assembly of Virginia made their last attempt 
to obtain from the king a hearing and a mitigation of this evil. " Wc 
are encouraged" say they, " to look up to the throne and implore 
your Majesty's paternal assistance, in averting a calamity of the most 
alarming nature. The importation of slaves into the colonies from 
the coasts of Africa, hath long been considered as a trade of great 
inhumanity ; and under its present encouragement, we fear, will en- 
danger the very existence of your Majesty's American Dominions. 
We are sensible that some of your Majesty's subjects of Great Brit- 
ain may reap emolument from this sort of traffick ; but when we con- 
sider that it greatly retards the settlement of the colonies with more 
useful inhabitants; and may, in time, have the most destructive in- 
fluence ; we presume to hope, that the interests of a few will b6 dis- 



regarded, when placed in competition witii the security and happi- 
ness of such numbers of your Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects." 
They closed their remonstrance with the following request ; " We 
most lumibly beseecli your Majesty to remove all those restraints on 
j'our Majesty's governors of this colony which hihibit their assenting 
to such laws as might check so very pernicious a coirmerce." But 
this was not granted. The right of prohibiting the importation of 
slaves was absolutely refused thera. The current of slavery, whick 
had long been flowing in upon the colonies, had now become alto- 
gether too powerful to be stayed by any barriei's they could raise 
against it. 

The fact that the petitions of the colonies to the British king and 
parliament, to save them from this overwhelming evil, were wholly 
disregarded, was at the south, urged as one of the principal reasons 
for separating altogether from the mother country. In the first draft 
of the declaration of Independence, which was from the pen of Mr. 
Jefierson, among the specifications against the king of Great Britain 
was this : " He has waged cruel war against human nature itselfi 
violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty, in the persons of a 
distant people who never offended him ; captivating and carrying 
them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death 
in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobri- 
um of infidel powers, is the work of a christian king of Great Britain. 
Determined to keep an open market where men should be bought 
and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legis- 
lative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce. 
And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distin- 

uished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms 
among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, 
by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them ; thus pay- 
ing off former crimes committed against the liberties of a people, 
with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of an- 
other" people. The reason why this article was not insert- 
ed was not a v/ant of unanimity of feehng on the subject ; but be- 
cause, said the late President Adams, " There was not an idea 
in it, which had not been hackneyed by Congress, for two years 
before." It is however, to be regretted that it was not adopted, as 
it would hare been a lastinor memorial of the views of that ausust 



assembly, and of those colonies gencrall}-, on tliis great nationn s 
subject. 

In the dpclaration which was adopted, they used languajre which 
gives to every slave unjustly held in bondage, the right of demanding 
his freedom. For tliey say, " We hold these truths to be self-evi- 
dent ; that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by 
their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among these, are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed : that when any form of govern- 
ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people 
to alter or abolish it ; instituting new government, laying its founda- 
tion on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to 
them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." It 
is but fair to conclude from these principles, so publicly declared, 
that it was the opinion of the colonies generally, at that time, as well 
as the voice of their government, that the blacks ought to be restor- 
ed to their freedom. 

In this there is another remarkable point of coincidence between 
the history of our own country, in regard to slavery, and that of an- 
cient Israel, in the time of the prophet Jeremiah. When they were 
beseiged by the armies of a foreign power, and were liable to be car- 
ried into captivity, they proclaimed liberty to their fellow men, whom 
they had long unjustly held in bondage. In like manner, when the 
hostile fleets of Britain environed our coasts ; and her armies were 
inarching through the land ; our countrymen spoke loudly of tyranny 
and oppression, and declared that liberty is the birthright of man. 
While this declaration was designed to be a vindication of their own 
conduct, in refusing to submit to a despotick government, they were 
not insensible that it spread a shield over the African slave ; and, 
doubtless, both expected and designed that he should be benefitted 
by it. 

That this was the fact, will clearly appear from the subsequent 
acts of the state governments. To say nothing of what was done in 
New-England, the legislature of Virginia, so early as the year 1778, 
while we were yet in doubtful contest with Great Britain, passed a 
law, prohibiting under heavy penalties, the further importation of 
slaves ; and declaring that every slave imported thereafter, should 
immediately be free. And this example was followed by most of the 



other states, previous to the date of the Federal Constitution. Im- 
mediately after peace was secured, the privilege of liberating slaves, 
wliicli was not allowed by the British government, was embraced by 
many with the fond expectation that it would lessen the evil they so 
much deplored; and it is calculated that in Virginia alone, upwards 
of 10,000 individuals received their freedom in this way, within ten 
years from 1782 ; and according to the census of 1810, the number of 
free negroes in that state, amounted to more than 30,000. Previous 
to that time, however, manumission had been prohibited by law ; as 
it has been at different times, in most or all of the other slave holding 
states. These laws prohibiting the emancipation of slaves, were 
passed from a conviction, founded on experience, that the practice of 
liberating slaves, while no special provision was made for their sup- 
port, was alike injurious to the slave and the community .*•'= 

Wlien this was ascertained to be the case, it became the imperi- 
ous duty of the several legislatures and of the community to furnish 
the emancipated blacks with lands, where they might support them- 
selves by their industry ; and with suitable instruction in every thing 
pertaining to their best interests. But this, though strongly urged 
by several distinguished individuals, was never done. Of course, the 
freed blacks, poor, ignorant, and vicious, without any means of sup- 
port, without any prospect of happiness, became a burden to the 
community ; and furnisVied a large share, as they do still, of the con- 
victs yearly immured in the penitentiaries of the nation. In view of 
this, the case of those wlio were yet in bondage, was given up as 
hopeless. Their chains, which seemed to be loosening for a season, 
were rivetted fast ; and while humanity wept, avarice and luxury 
" grinned horribly a ghastly smile." And thus the evil has re- 
mained and increased in the land, until the number of the blacks in 
some sections of the country, far exceeds that of the whites ; and 
they are said to amount in the whole, to nearly two millions, and to 
be increasing now at the rate of about sixty thousand a year. 

Here, again, observe the coincidence between the conduct of our own 
countrymen, and that of the ancient Israelites. When they, through 
the assistance of their allies the Egyptians, had put their enemies to 
flight, and thought themselves out of danger, they caused those of 
their servants to whom they had proclaimed liberty, to return again 



''For several of these facts see Veraiont Chronicle, Noa. 41 and 42. 
B 



i-9 

to a state of bondage ; and were as ready as bcJbrc, to gain wealthi 
and ease, by means of tlieir poverty and slavish toil. And so when 
our people, ihroui^Ii the assistance of their allies, the French, were 
enabled to gain their independence, and to expel the fleets and ar- 
mies of Britain from our coasts, the promiseof liberty which had been 
held out to the slave was pj-esently forgotten, and they, like mere do- 
mestick animals, continued to be bought and sold ; and under the 
lash were urged to go on with their work. 

I feel constrained to pursue the comparison one step further, and 
say, that as the Lord gave liberty to the sword, to the famine and 
pestilence to pass through the land of Israel, and make it desolate ; 
because they refused to give liberty to their brethren unjustlyheld 
in bondage, so we have reason to expect it will be in our country, 
unless publick justice be shown, in giving liberty to that vast multi- 
tude of our fellow men, who, for no crime of theirs, are here subject- 
ed to cruel slavery. The Almighty will not always suffer with im- 
punity one part of the human family to sport with the lives, liberty 
and happiness of the other; extorting the means of their own wealth 
and pleasure, from the servitude and sufferings and groans of their 
follows. Nor is it in the nature of man, however enslaved and de- 
graded, to always thus tamely submit. Let things go on for a fev; 
years more, ss they have done, and the number of blacks in the slave 
Ixolding states, must vastly exceed that of the whites ; the slaves too, 
will know that they vastly exceed their masters in muscular strength ; 
and thirsting for liberty, exasperated by tyranny and oppression, they 
will not hesitate to make a declaration of independence similar to 
our own ; and in its defence, think themselves justified in spreading 
burning and slaughter through all that extensive section of our land. 
And should that Almighty Being, who has so often terribly mamtain- 
ed against oppressors the cause of the afflicted and the right of the 
poor, favour their cause, it will not be in the power of this nation to 
arrest the progress of these terrible calamities. Something must be 
done, and that speedily, for this vast body of our enslaved population, 
or they will prove to our country like fire long confined under a 
mountain ; which heaving and groaning for a while, at length bursts 
out with a terrible explosion ; darkening the sun with its smoke, and 
overwhelming all the adjacent region with its burning deluge. Ev- 
ery one who knows what human nature is, or believes that a Being 
of perfect rectitude and supreme power, presides over all the affairis 



11 

tif men, must anticipate this tremendous catastrophe. Now, if ever, 
is the time to remove the cause, which is tending to produce it. 

Let no one say that the southern state? only, arc concerned in this 
2fuilt and danger. Tiioug-h some parts of the land are more deeply 
involed in the evil than others, still the sin and peril are both strictly 
national. What part of our country is freer from the guilt of slave- 
ry than New-England ? And yet, while the slave trade on the Afri- 
can coast was tolerated, New-England men, wc have been often told, 
were the most active of all our citizens, in prosecuting this barbarous 
trafRck. They built and navigated the ships, and forged the chains, 
in which multitudes of the wretched blacks were carried across the 
ocean ; and have, in many instances, built their superb mansions, 
and filled their store-houses, and furnished their splendid tables and 
wardrobes, with the avails of this execrable trade in human bodies 
and souls. 

To show the enormity of this guilt, I would direct your attention 
to the African coasts, beleaguered with slave ships, from nations call- 
ed christian, from our own, among the rest, exciting the native chiefs 
by offers of intoxicating liquors, and gaudy trappings, and military 
munitions, to steal upon each other's villages in the dead of night ; 
and seize, and bind, and drag down to the mart, the youthful and vig- 
orous of every family. And then you may see these savages, like 
evening wolves, roaming, and watching for their prey ; and hear the 
piercing cries of the miserable victims, and witness their desperate 
but ineffectual, struggles ; and in the light of their blazing cabins, 
mark the despair and agony depicted in their countenances, as they 
cast their last look on the spot of their nativity, and on the mangled 
forms of their kindred who have fallen in their defence ; or who, for 
the crime of tender infancy or feeble old age, have been wantonly 
plunged into the consuming flames. 

Let a slave trader give his own account of the treatment of these 
wretched beings, when brought into the African market. " When 
the slaves which are brought from the inland countries, come to 
Whidah, they are put in prison together : when we treat concerning 
buying them, they are all brought out together in a large plain ; 
where, by our surgeons, they are thorougly examined, and that na- 
ked, both men and women, without the least distinction or modesty. 
Those which are approved as good, are set on one side ; in the mean^ 
while a burning iron, with the arms or name of the company Jie«-io 



1% 

thy fire, with which ours arc marked on the breast. When wchave 
agreed with the owners of the slaves, they are returned to their pris- 
ons ; where, from that time forward, they are kept at our charge ; 
and copt us two ponce a day, each slave; which serves to subsist, 
them like criminals on bread and water ; so that to save charges, we 
Bond tlicm on board our chips, the very first opportunity .• before 
which, their masters strip them of all they have on their backs, so 
that they come on board stark naked, as well women as men. — Six or 
Beven hundred are sometimes put on board a vessel ; where they lie 
as close together as it is possible for them to be crowded."* 

What' must be the hardness of the wretch who could, without 
blushing, give such an account of his own barbarity. Now think of 
the sufferings of these unfortunate creatures, during their passage 
across the ocean. Several hundreds in the same ship, all in irons, 
scantily supplied with food, crowded together so closely that they 
have scarcely room to stir ; and by their breath, and sweat, and more 
offensive filth, generating, and suffering the effects of the flux, and 
malignant fevers, so that the living and the dead are lying mingled 
together ; and the monsters of the deep following the ship, are glut- 
ted with their frequent repast. Let me give you a few facts, taken 
from the African Repository, for August last. " The Intrepida, of a 
hundred tons burden, when captured, was found to contain 310 slaves, 
in a state of great wretchedness and emaciation ; 70 of them had di- 
ed in a passage of 46 days. Another, the Invincible, contained 446 
slaves, so crowded together, that it was impossible to separate the 
sick from the healthy ; or the dying from the dead ; their provisions 
and water were of the worst kind; the filth and stench were beyond 
description ; and tlie dysentery, opthalmia, and scurvy, carried off 
180 of these poor wretches, in less than sixty days." " One vessel 
lost 161, out of 421 ; another 229. out of 659 ; a third 238, out of 
464." 

Those who survive, sink into a settled melancholy ; which now 
and then breaks out into lamentations, and plaintive songs, expressive 
of their loss of relatives, friends and country. So powerfully does 
this sorrow operate, that they loathe their food and their lives, and 
often seek opportuniiies to plunge themselves into ihe deep, to es- 
cape their intolerable sufferings. This, their masters call eulkiness, 



^BosmaQ. British Encyclopedia, article Galnea, 



13 

»iid seek to drive it away by hanging, shooting, and the infliction, at 
tiinea, ofsiich ^trange torments, as I dare not recite in the ears of 
this audience. And in such scenes as these, many of tlie people, not 
only of Old England, but of New -England, too, were once engaged. 
It will perhaps be said that the African slave trade is now strictly 
prohibited, both by the British government and our own. Thanks to 
Heaven for it. May the time speedily come, when it shall he pro- 
hibited not only on paper, but when these enactments shall be car- 
ried into full execution ; and the clandestine traffick, which is still 
carried on to an awful extent, by the nations called christian, shall 
be entirely broken up. The document last referred to, states, that 
*' The French slave-trade, notwithstanding the eifortsof the govern- 
ment, appears to be undiminished. The number of Spanish vessels 
employed in the trade is immense. — To the Brazils, the slave-trade 
is carried on to a great extent, and with circumstances of the most 
odious barbarity. To only one port, in the Brazils, in the course of 
the two last years, 77,350 human beings were transported from their 
native country, and placed in a state of slavery." 

But to leave wretched Africa and the pestilential slave ships on the 
ocean, what is the state of the million and a half of slaves, whose 
lot has been cast in this boasted asylum of the oppresed, and land 
of freedom ? In regard to their labour and living, James Brewster, in 
a treatise on that subject says, " They are all placed under the im- 
mediate authority of taskmasters, hired by their wealthy owners for 
the express purpose of dealing out tlieir provisions and keeping thera 
at their work. Their only allowance of provisions is a peck of corn 
in the grain per week, which they must crack or grind on the Sab- 
bath, and bake in the night ; no other time being allowed. The hoe 
caicp forms their breakfast and their supper, dinner being out oJ' the 
question. The custom is, to start at the dawn of day, and pursue 
their labour until the mules are baited at eleven o'clock, wiien the 
slaves are allowed their scanty breakfast ; after wiiich they are again 
driven to their work, and kept to it until the curtains of night shut 
out thehght of day. This system of food and of labour, he remarks, 
is almost invariably pursued by many, from year to year ; and that 
man who, as an overseer, proves himself the most severe, is prefer- 
red ; and can procure the highest wages. It would seem to us tliat 
men so poorly fed could perform no labour. But a 'gentlemen ac- 
quainted at the south, has told me, that he believes this account to 



14 

'be entirely true, as it respects tlie great mass of tlie lilackg cmploj^ 
ed on the low lands of the Atlantick States. Criminals in prison 
are better served. 

If it be said that many of the southern planters keep their slaves 
as well as the northern farmers do their cattle ; let it be so. The 
scantiness of their living and the hardness of their labour, are but 
light evils ; in comparison with the fact that they are often, without 
any regard to their feelings, torn away from their connections and 
sold from one planter to another, like brute animals. Those who 
have lived in the most intimate relationship, as husbands and wives, 
parents and children, or brothers and sisters, are torn asunder ; and 
driven off to distant states or territories, where they can never sec 
or hear from each other more. Their feelings towards each other, 
are as affectionate as those of the white people ; and these events of 
daily occurrence, are as painful to them, as they would be to us. As 
a single specimen of this kind of sale, I will just recite to you an ar- 
ticle which I read not long since in one of the newspapers. 

At ten o'clock on Saturday morning last, in the court house yard, in 
this Christian city of Baltimore, under the authority of the Orphan's 
Court, was sold at public auction to a southern slaver, a mother and four 
children ; the eldest not more than six or seven years old, and the 
youngest at the breast. The mother, a most respectable and interest- 
ing looking woman, was all in tears ; and the children who were old 
enough to have any sense of their condition, and to know what was 
doing, wept with a pathos that would have melted a heart of stone. 
The auctioneer displayed his authority, and performed his duty, with 
a notable degree of indifference and insensibility. Some half a doz- 
en slavers were present, and bid against each other with demoniac- 
al avidity. They were at length knocked down to a New-Orleans 
Flavor, and carried off for that market. The transaction took place 
during the session of the court, and was done in pursuance of the 
laws of the state." Such scenes of anguish are common. Indeed 
it is the grand object now, with many of the planters, to breed ne- 
groes for the market. 

But even this is but triflng, compared with the fact, that the slaves 
are by design kept in the greatest ignorance, not being allowed to 
learn to read or write ; to be taught even in Sabbath schools ; or 
to receive any instruction whatever, only to toil for their masters; to 
obey them in all their capricioua commands ; and gratify them in alt 



15 

their unhallowed inclinations. In this land of gospel light they are 
generally groping in darkness as tJiick as rests on the remotest re- 
gions of Africa, or the most unfrcqnented islands of the sea. Doubt- 
less in pious families here and there, we shall fnid exceptions ; but 1 
speak of the general mass of the slave population. Give them prop- 
er instruction their masters dare not, lest they should feel that they 
are men, that their rights have been violated ; and should seek their 
freedom. 

That we may feel that these things are not altogether sectional, 
but concern us a nation, let it be remembered that the state of slave- 
ry in the District of Columbia, subject to the immediate legislation of 
Congress is as deplorable as elsewhere. And there it must certainly 
be considered a national disgrace and sin. A gentleman in the city 
of Washington, not long since, wrote to his friend in Philadelphia, 
*' The publick will be surprised to learn that this District is made the 
head quarters for carrying on the domestick slave trade. — The pris- 
ons cannot hold them all, and there are certain low taverns in tovvdi 
called pens, where the slave dealers keep their purchases : and when 
they have a drove, they take a chain, like an ox-chain, and on each 
side of this, iron the slaves ; the right and left wrists together, the 
pairs sufficiently far apart to walk, and then eight, or ten, or twelve 
pairs, thus ironed, are driven oft*. Hundreds thus manacled pass the 
bridge or go down in the steam boats every year. In the newspa- 
pers of this city you may read in one column, " This chosen and hap- 
■p]j seat of Republican Government ;" and in another, " Cash in the mar- 
ket ; and the highest price given for likely young negroes." I have vis- 
ited the cells of the prisons of this.place, and a single case may give 
you a slight idea of the cruelty and horrours of the slave trade as car- 
ried on in the Federal City. In one cell was a woman and three 
children, brought into the District and confined for sale. The price 
was eight hundred dollars for the whole, or either would be sold sep- 
arately ; the mother and tlte children parted I But this is not alL 
We learned she was the wife of a free man in Maryland. The hus- 
band had worked hard to bring up their children ; they had nine ; 
and as fast as they grew large enough for the market they were ta- 
ken from hirii and sold. Now she had arrived at an age no longer to 
bear children, she, and the remainder of her little ones, were taken 
from her kiusband, and sent to a prison in the Federal City ; one of 



IG 

the prisons eupported by the wiiole people of the United States, to Ic 
Bold from her husband and honrie forever."* 

Various resolutions have been introduced into Congreps by benev- 
olent individuals to deliver at least the scat of the national govern- 
ment from the disgrace and guiltof slavery ; but they have uniformly 
met with decided opposition. Well might the poor blacks inarching 
by the Hall of Congress, in chains, wag their heads, and sing with 
an indignant sneer, "Hail Columbia! Happy land." In view of these 
things do the friends of slavery in the halls of legislation whisper to 
each other, " With our tongue will we prevail ; our lips are our own, 
who is lord over us?" A voice infinitely mightier responds, "For 
the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will / 
arise, saith the Lord : I will set him in safety, from him that pufieth 
at him." 

How affecting is the thought, that while so many hundreds of thou- 
sands of our fellow men have, in this land of liberty, been wearing 
out their hves in cruel bondage, and the majority of our legislators 
in our general government, glorying in their independence, and fierce- 
ly contending for places of personal distinction and emolument, have 
turned a deaf ear to the cries of suffering humanity ; and a treasure 
of wrath in the heavens above, and another in the earth beneath have 
been continually accumulating and preparing to burst on our nation 
in one thunderino', irresistible storm ; we have done eo little, have 
said so little, have been so little concerned ; and have prayed no more, 
that the evil might be removed ; and vengeance be turned away, 
and our country be saved. 

Does any one inquire what can be done ? Some of the wisest statee- 
men and most distinguished philanthropists in our country have deeply 
studied this question ; and haye not been able to devise any plan which 
promises more good than that which has been adopted by the Amer- 
ican Colonization Society ; which is " to transport with their own 
consent, the free people of colour of the United States, and such as 
may become free with theconsentof their masters, and establish them 
in colonies on the coast of Africa ; and to take such measures for the 
government and good order of the colonists as circumstances may 
render expedient." This society organized at the city of Washing- 
ton, I think in 1816, is founded on principles so judicious and benev- 
olent, that it meets with the approbation of wise and good men inev- 

* Natioaal Gazette. 



ii 

i?rypart of the nation; and is continually increasing in the numtci' 
of its members and auxiliaries ; in its resources and power to ac- 
complish the object of its institution. I am happy to see so respect- 
able a number of its friends met here this evening, to consult its inter- 
ests. 

Considering how recently this society was organized, and that it 
has had no patronage from the national government, it may well fill 
our hearts with devout gratitude to God, to consider what has been 
accomplished. A large tract of land, exceedingly fertile, has been 
purchased on the coapt of Africa, in a climate altogether congenial 
to the constitutions of those for whom it is especially intended, and 
a selection of about 1200 blacks have been established there; fur- 
nished with provisions, with tools for clearing and cultivating the 
country; with ample munitions of war, to defend themselves against 
any assault of their barbarous neighbours; and with teachers and 
books to cultivate their minds and train them to the exercise of self 
government. The children are all gathered in schools ; the people all 
regard the Sabbath, and regularly assemble in their chapels on that 
day to listen to the faithful preaching of tlie gospel ; the government has 
been most wisely and efficiently administered by Mr. Ashmun, the 
society's agent, who, I lament to say, has lately sunk to the grave un- 
der the weight of his responsibility and cares ; the colonists main-* 
lain a profitable trade with foreigners, in the products of the coun- 
try ; and, admitted to the full enjoyment of rational liberty ; they 
feel that they are men, are immortal beings ; and are making rapid 
progress in all those useful arts and virtuous habits, which dignify 
and adorn the best of our race. The colony, we have been told, " has 
been greatly blessed with the influence of the Holy Spirit; and near- 
ly all the youth have become serious and devout professors of Chris- 
tianity — and that, on the whole, the civil, moral, and religious 
order of the settlement exceeded any thing to be found in any given 
district of our own country." No colony on the face of the globe, 
probably, was ever more signally prospered in its commencement, — 
none in our own country, certainly, did ever, within the same number 
of years, present so fair a prospect of rising to greatness among the 
nations of the earth. 

Such light, shining forth from this favoured spot of benighted Af- 
rica, the inhabitants of the adjacent regions, have seen with aston- 
ishment and grief, the misery of their own condition ; and many, 
C 



anxious to become acquainted with those arts and habits of life which 
are capable of raising some of their race so much above the rest, 
are coming into the colony, to learn their wa3's, and be instructed in 
their literary and religious institutions. In this way, the light of the 
Gospel will ere long break out and shine on every side, until ths 
thick clouds of ignorance and superstition which have so long brood- 
ed over that interesting quarter of the globe, and made it a den of 
every unclean and hateful thing, shall be chased away, and intelli- 
gencc, virtue, and happiness, shall reign in their stead. 

Africa has from time immemorial, been a moral desert. But the 
fountain of the water of hfe, just opened in Liberia, is already send- 
ing forth its salubrious streams, not only through the colony, but into the 
adjacent regions, and these streams will m.ultiply, & deepen, and extend, 
until all this wide spreading desert shall be watered and clothed with 
verdure; and tlie heaps of pollution, which have been accumulating- 
for ages; and the wiiole atmosphere shall be purified with salutife- 
rous exhalations, and the whole country shall smile like Eden ; and 
the song of redeeming love shall be sung in full concert, w^here the 
ehout of the midnight toe, and the shriek of the captives, forced 
away to the slave ships, and the death groans of thousands immo- 
lated upon the altars of devils, are now heard. 

It is obvious that a civihzed and Christian colony on that part of 
the African coast, must exert an influence directly and powerfully 
tending to restrain and finally break up the slave trade. In addi- 
tion to their moral influence, the colony can extend an arm of 
power, to drive away the prowling slaves from the neighboring coast. 
Much has indeed, been already done. Two years ago we were told 
that four slave factories were destroyed by the military forces of the 
colony ; that between Cape Mount and Trade Town, comprehend- 
ing a line of 140 miles, not a slaver dared to attempt his guilty 
traffick ; and that, by the combined influence of Sierra Leone and 
Liberia, the slave trade is excluded from a coast of more than 600 
miles, and from a tract of land wiiich has commonly yielded fifteen 
or twenty thousand victims annually!* Surely these are animating 
statements. 

In view of all these things, why may we not expect that everyone 
will approve of tiie object and measures of this society, and cheerful- 
ly come up to its help? What objection has any man to offer? " Qh, 

*Ses the 7th Report of this-Society. 



19 

?it is all a plan of the southei'n people to gettlie free blacks out of the 
way, that they may tyrannise over their slaves with less fear of their 
insurrection ; and find a better market for such asthoy wish to sell." 
That is an ungenerous suggestion; one which certainly did not orig- 
inate in that charity which thinketh no evil. But even if this were 
the motive with them, it need not be yours : neither would it be any 
good reason why you should not co-operate with them in a work of 
such national importance ; of such vital interest to the immediate 
objects of it; to their posterity, and indeed to the whole population 
of degraded Africa. Because some men among us may be supposed 
to support the interests of learning and religion, and civil govern- 
ment, from selfish motives ; will you withhold your support from 
these objects; and consequently lend your aid to the cause of ignor- 
!ince, irreligion, and anarchy ? 

" Yes, but if r:a should give our support to this society it can 
liardly be expected that many of the blacks would be willing to leave 
this country and go to Africa." Why not? Suppose you were in Af- 
rica, or any where else among a race of people of a complexion al- 
together different from your own, where every man, woman and child 
should, with pity or contempt, look on you as an inferior being, and 
you should find yourself shut out from all places of honorable d.'stinc= 
lion, from all the civilities and endearments of social life ; perpetual- 
ly loaded with infamy, and trampled upon by the toot of pride and 
oppression ; would you not wish to leave sucli a country and go to 
dwell among your own people, where you might enjoy your liberty, 
and receive from others all that affection and respect to which your 
character and conduct should entitle you? Would you not eagerly 
embrace such an opportunity to Iiasten back to your own country, 
and kindred? Well, the free black is a man ; and possesses the nat- 
ural feelings of humanity, in common with you. We appeal to facts, 
that as fast as the means have been furnished, there has been no back- 
wardness on the part of the blacks, aad those of the best informa- 
tion and character too, to accept of the charitable assistance of this 
society, and eniDark for the land of their fathers. At present, the 
call is loud for assistance. When none are willing to go, this objec- 
'tion may be urged with a better grace. 

Will it be said, " However it may be with the free negroes, your 
Jiopes with respect to the slaves, are altogether visionary ; for their 
masters will never release them ?" If we had reason to apprehend 



80 

this, it ought not to liinJer us from affording assistance to those who 
are now in a situation to receive it. At present vve have enough to 
do. The objection too, is merely imaginary- Those who are best 
acquainted witli tiie state of things at the south, assure us, that very 
many of our fellow citizens there, are much awakened to a sense of 
their danger ; that they consider slavery an intolerable burden, and 
curse ; and would immediately free themselves from it by the eman- 
cipation of their slaved, could thoy be taken off of their hands, and 
restored to the rational enjoyment of liberty. Not a fewofthcui 
have already done nobly in this respect. The influence of their exam- 
ple will be felt ; the light diffused through the slave holding states, by 
the publications of the Colonization Society and its branches, will awa- 
ken many a slumbering conscience ; and the frequent prayers which 
are oflered to Heaven for its success, will be heard by One who holds 
the hearts of men in his hand ; and can soften and mould them at 
his pleasure. 

" Yes, but if they were all willing to release their slaves, it would 
be utterly impossible for this society to send them back to Africa. 
The work is altogether too great to be accompliehed by such feebla 
means." If the society never should be able to do all the good they 
wish, that is no reason why they should not do as much as they can. 
Because you were not sure that you could save the whole family of 
your neighbour from their burning habitation, would you refuse your 
hand to such as came within your reach ? But suppose the people 
generally, sliould patronize this great national object, where would 
be the difficulty of carrying the plan into full effect. We do not yet 
despair of help from the national government. With the Declara- 
tion of Independence hanging before them, announcing to the world 
*' that all men are created equal : that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which, are life, liber- 
i>/, and the pursuit of happiness," how can they be deaf to the cries of 
almost two millions of the oppressed ciiildren of Africa, who, dv/elling 
in the midst of us, arc deprived of all these unalienable rights? and 
deaf to the numerous and urgent petitions of their own constituents, 
that something should qe speedily done for the reUefof those who 
have been so cruelly injured. It surely would not be an encroach- 
ment on the rights of individuals, or of the states, to send away those 
cf the blacks who are already free, and desirous to go ; or to pur- 
chase of their owners those who are still retained in bondajje, an<i 



31 

gwe them thoir liberty, with the means of snbsistencG and comfort. 
Several influential men in the Councils ol' the nation, are decidedly 
in favour of some such measures. 

But should legislative justice be long delayed, still our good citi- 
zens are able to accomplish much in their private capacity. Sup- 
pose that all the money which is annually squandered in celebrating 
our national independence, while a nation of blacks in the midst of 
us, are sighing in bondage, were all applied directly to the object of 
their emancipation and return to Africa ; how great would be the 
sum ; and how extensive the good yearly accomplished. Talk of 
poverty and want of means ! Why sirs, the fifty millions of dollars 
which our countrymen pour down their throats annually, in fiery, in- 
toxicating hquors, would be sufficient to pay the passage to Africa, of 
all the blacks in this nation, in a single year ; and to give them a 
handsome outfit into the bargain. And must these two millions of 
our fellow creatures still be doomed to their scanty pittance, and 
toil on in servitude and ignorance ; and go down to their untimely 
graves, with the gloomy expectation that their children, and their 
children's children, must toil under the lash, and suffer hunger and 
nakedness ; be deprived of instruction, and be bought and sold, and 
trampled upon as they have been, by a people boasting of their mag- 
nanimity, their republican institutions, and remarkable prosperity .'' 
And all, forsooth, because this nation, which can spend fifty millions 
yearly, in the single article of strong drink, is too poor to help them .-' 
No, no. There is a God in Heaven ; and " I know that the Lord 
will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor." 
Unless we as a people, cease from these vain excuses, and comply 
with the dictates of humanity and justice, in restoring liberty and 
comfort to the children of Africa, enslaved in this nation, the tremen- 
dous declaration executed so terribly on ancient Israel, will be exe- 
cuted as terribly upon us. Would to God it were thundered in the 
ears of all our citizens, from Maine to Florida ; from the Atlantick 
to Missouri, in accents so loud and long that they could not but hear 
it, and be awakened to a due sense of our nation's guilt and danger, 
while there is a possibility of turning away the impending doom. 
Surely it may cause every ear which hears it to tingle. " There- 
fore thus saith the Lord, Ye have not hearkened unto me, in pro- 
claiming liberty every one to his brother, and every man to his neigh- 
bour ; Behold I proclaim a liberty for you saith the liord to the 



eword, to the pestilence, and to the famine ; and I will make you t« 
be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." " A.s thou hast 
done, so shall it be done unto thee." Alas my country ! whither are 
thine iniquities bearing thee ? May infinite mercy render this warn- 
ing of the Almigiity effectual ; and thy repentance turn back the up- 
lifted sword of his justice from the blood of thy people ! 

Inhabitants of Vermont, in the days wliich tried men's souls, this 
nation found " the Green Mountain Boys" at Bennington and Still- 
water, ardent and firm, in the cause of liberty. To you the benevo- 
lent through the nation are looking now, for aid in the work of ex- 
tending the same liberty to that great multitude of her enslaVTed" pop- 
ulation whose wailings have, for these fifty years, been going up to 
heaven, in horrid discord with our nation's songs of rejoicing. The 
weapons now to be used are not carnal, but through God, we trust 
they will be mighty. Two millions of people, for no crime of theirs, 
loaded with ignominy and servitude, are suppliant before you. Li- 
beria, rising above the waves of the Atlantick, like a city set on a 
hill, in contrast with her own pcaccfulness and dignity, points you to 
•the winding shores of that continent invested with slave ships ; and 
to the warring tribes of the interior, where they are to be supplied 
W'ith their groaning cargoes. The spirits of those immortal men who 
rejoiced to fall as martyrs in this benevolent enterprize, whose expir- 
inor breath was spent in pleading with Heaven and earth for its suc- 
cess, seem to me to be present ; observing with deep solicitude, the 
transactions of this evening ! May that Almighty Saviour, who sus- 
tained them in life and in death, fill us all with his spirit ; and never 
leave us to abandon the great and good work, so auspiciously begun, 
imtil we shall be able to say, it is finished — until the foul stigma of 
oppression shall be wiped from the reputation of our country ; and the 
wrongs done to every negro in these United States, shall be amply 
redressed ; and Africa, emancipated and happy, shall forgive the bar- 
barous christian nations, and join with them in repentance and ado- 
ration, as they bow, and submit forever to the King of Peace. 



54 W 




« t • «. 





























• •• 






























'*bv* 



V^' 



^^^c.^' 




